satin stitch five-pointed stars

Hello, I know it's been awhile! I am back to share a bit of what I am working on now - lots of five-pointed stars.

I thought I would quickly show how I am satin stitching my stars. To make your own stars you will need:

• fabric and some scrap fabric behind it to stabilize the embroidery (I used a blue bit of fabric and a scrap of flannel behind as the stabilizer)
• embroidery floss, needle, and scissors
• a scrap of cardstock or thin cardboard to make a star stencil
• a permanent fabric safe marker to draw the stars on the fabric (I used a Pitt Pen with S tip)

1. Draw a five-pointed star on a piece of scrap cardstock or thin cardboard.

2. Carefully cut out the star with an exacto knife.

3. My supplies (probably could have been Step 1). Oh well.

4. Trace the star onto the fabric.

5. Place a dot in the center and connect to the inside corners of the star to divide into five segments.

6. Use 2 strands of embroidery floss (knot in the end) and start from the back of the fabric, pushing the needle through on an inside corner. Take the needle front to back on the opposite inside corner. Repeat moving towards the center to cover the segment with satin stitch. I try to hist center of the drawn line with my stitching.

7. Repeat the satin stitch moving towards the center of the star.

8. Once you have stitched to the center of the star move to another inside corner and repeat the satin stitch towards the center on the next segment.

9. Repeat the satin stitch moving towards the center of the star.

10. Fill the inside portion of each segment with satin stitch so that the center of the star is completed. This stabilizes the center and overall shape of the star. If there's a lot of fabric showing through in the center of the star, a small X stitched over that area seems to tidy it up.

11. Now begin on any segment and repeat the satin stitch working outward towards the point of that segment.12. Then go to the next segment and work towards that point.

13. This just shows the stitch pattern I have been using on the points - the last stitch on the tip is a vertical on top of the smallest horizontal. This makes a nice little point.

14. A finished five-point star, like the ones on a United States flag, except these are stitched by hand and each one is a little different.

I started stitching stars because I decided to make a United States flag with some of my grandmothers' fabrics and clothing that my boys have outgrown. I started with piecing the blue field and stitching the white stars, the white stars on the blue slowly blooming in a familiar a pattern. Working on that led to an idea for another project and so now I am stitching gold stars for a different kind of flag. The gold stars are about 1.25" point to point. I am almost halfway to 50 stars on the gold ones. Almost.

There's something very satisfying about working out the same shape over and over, all different and all the same, the soothing texture of repetition. There's a familiar rhythm to the star pattern, no matter the color of the stars.

the middle of March

 I had been planning to start working with larger scale but got sidetracked with these little oak leaves. I made them specifically for this little basket...

which holds this little doll. I am sending them to my youngest niece for her birthday. My grandma gave the doll to me forever ago when I was already a bit too old for dolls. She had one similar that she used to let my sister and I play with when we were visiting. My mom gave it back to me a few years ago. I packed it away and it recently resurfaced. I want to pass it on to someone who will enjoy it now. The little quilts add some softness and spring is so near the leaves just had to be green. It was pretty gray out when I started them.

It's absolutely beautiful today. 72˙ as I type this around 4pm. This afternoon, just a few minutes before I photographed the quilted leaves…

the sandhill cranes flew over. I heard them calling from way up, through the open windows.

warmth blocks in winter

I have started stitching on a couple of winter blocks. My theme hasn't strayed far from the block I stitched last year. 

I am making the new ones 12X12 inches to be compatible with last years'. If I can make one or two each year I can eventually sew them all together to make a quilt.

Moving inside as it gets colder outside inspires lots of imagery about warmth. I think a lot about keeping my family busy and happy as it becomes harder to spend time outside.

Filling our house with people always helps with warmth and cheer. I wish the same for all of you.

time warp

Last week my dad had a serious health scare, but he is doing well now. My mom is faced with the fairly difficult job of trying to get him to take it easy for awhile. This is the first day it has felt okay to think about anything else except all of this. I guess I am just noting all this here for sake of my personal timeline. Last week was like a time warp.

The boys and I are making a few small trips here and there over the next few days. I will be back to posting here in about a week.

I am still working on the redbud leaves and I think something is about to happen with these patchwork stars.

redbud family

Nighttime and daytime photos but the same cloth. Right now I am liking the heart shape of the eastern redbud.

It has been a crazy week and next week my boys are on fall break. When I get back - let's talk about leaves again.

family

My parents are the "Fletcher" in my name (as well as my boys') and the foundation on which my sense of family has been built. They are encouraging and supportive and so when I started taking ceramics classes a year (or two?) ago, my dad surprised me by making a custom clay tool. It stamps my initials into the soft clay on the bottom of my work. He is a woodworker but can really make anything he puts his mind to - he's pretty amazing. The stamp works beautifully. He modeled it after my own configuration of hand writing/carving of my initials, but these letter forms are pleasingly clean and simple - beautifully influenced by the materials used.

Dad's stamp also works well on other materials and so I can stamp lightly onto fabric and then stitch over it.

I am working through a stack of pieces - many started quite awhile ago. Some of them have become overwhelmed with my original intention of what I hoped for them to be or mean. When that happens I eventually put them aside and now there's a stack of them - looking all lonely. In the midst of normal family chaos of day to day life it is the meditative stitch that I so often need. So they won't all turn out to be what I originally intended because I am going to lighten their load of intention just a bit. In the end I think cloth just begs to be lived with and useful - part of a family.

If only just a sense of all that can be stitched into what I make then it will be enough. All the comforts, the calm and sometimes chaotic - past and present of home. It's all in there.